'Recall that one of the proposed facet of HilaryCare was to be a steep tax on cigarettes, but she and her commission concluded that too steep a tax would reduce revenue by discouraging smoking.'

New York City found that out when they passed the highest cigarette taxes in the nation a few years ago. They claimed all along that the new tax wasn't to make money off smokers, but was to be of social benefit by funding programs, etc.

Only, many smokers simply went elsewhere to purchase their cigarettes, and the income from the new tax was about 1/3rd of what was originally estimated. That's when New York officials started whining about the low revenues, and it became abundantly clear that they didn't care about "social benefit," they cared only about the money. Yes, I know, I should not have been shocked.

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